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Tapping into the problem: water shortages in Nigeria

Do people living in Nigerian villages have clean drinking water? Do they have enough water to meet their daily hygiene requirements? The University of Edinburgh, UK, together with the Federal Polytechnic in Bauchi, Nigeria, looked at the supply of water to people living in rural communities in Taraba State, in eastern Nigeria. Since independence, Nigeria has spent a lot of money on developing water supplies. However there are still many health problems in rural areas due to polluted drinking water and a shortage of water for daily hygiene.

Rural areas face specific problems not encountered in the towns. It is simply too expensive to provide a house-to-house water supply because homes are so widely scattered. Many rural people have low incomes and find it difficult to fund or maintain a water supply. They also lack the skills needed to maintain the water source. Water schemes therefore need to be simple to operate, and cheap to construct and maintain. Villagers need spare parts, tools and materials if these schemes are to be successful in the long term.

The community wells, which may be polluted, are the main source of water; in the wet season 35% of rural inhabitants depend on the well for water and in the dry season the figure rises to 69%. Families have other sources of water which may also be contaminated: rainwater; water from ponds and pits they have dug themselves, and water from streams which flow in the rainy season. Many members of the community would willingly become involved in a water project to make sure that their families have a continuous supply of safe water. Almost half of the households offered their labour and more than a quarter offered to help fund the project.

The study found that:

Few safe sources of water, such as deep bore holes, have been developed in eastern Nigeria.

Water is in short supply. Approximately 80% of households have less than 30 litres of water per person per day.

The shortage of water for daily hygiene, together with the lack of clean drinking water, is the cause of a high level of water-related diseases in the community.

Members of 27% of the households need less than 30 minutes (per journey) to fetch their water during the wet season and 17% during the dry season.

In order to address the problems identified the report recommends:

international agencies should take advantage of the willingness of village communities to be involved and provide them with the basic low-cost training they need so that they are able look after themselves

more bore holes must be drilled to provide clean water

springs could be used as an additional low cost water supply

low cost technology such as constructed wetlands should be introduced to treat polluted river and wastewater in order to reduce the number of waterborne diseases

an analysis of the geographical water distribution will help to reduce sampling costs and effort

Nigerian government agencies should extend their water services to rural communities.

Source(s):
‘Water-availability assessment and corresponding public health
implications for a rural area in Nigeria’, Journal of the Chartered
Institution of Water and Environmental Management 16(4): 296-299, by V.C.
Uzomah and M. Scholz, 2002
'Performance predictions of mature experimental constructed wetlands which
treat urban water receiving high loads of lead and copper', Water Research
37(6): 1270-1277, by M. Scholz, 2002
'Mature experimental constructed wetlands treating urban water receiving
high metal loads', Biotechnology Progress 18(6): 1257-1264, by M. Scholz, P.
Hohn and R. Minall, 2002

Further Information:
Miklas Scholz
Institute for Infrastructure and Environment
School of Engineering and Electronics
University of Edinburgh
Crew Building
The King's Buildings
Edinburgh EH9 3JN
Scotland
UK